6 Free things you can do to impact your health
There is a perception that living in a way that prioritises your health has to be super expensive and so when you’re on a tight budget it’s easy to write it off as something to do when money allows.
Prioritising yourself is often hard to do and when you add in the financial barrier it just feels too out of reach but while there are definitely lots of things you can do that will cost you lots of money, even on the tightest of budgets, you can be empowered to make the changes that won’t cost you any money but can have a profound and positive impact on your health.
So here goes, my top 6 changes that won’t cost you a cent.
1 - Stop using scented candles/air fresheners
I realise this is a biggie! We are very attached to smells and develop a deep emotional attachment to certain fragrances. We love our house smelling a certain way and prefer to get rid of unpleasant odours. Scented candles are particularly associated with self care and indulging yourself, maybe taking a bubble bath with your scented candles around creating a relaxing environment to unwind and de-stress. How can that be bad?
Synthetic fragrances are some of the most toxic chemicals used in products that we use. When you see the word ‘fragrance’ on an ingredient label it can actually represent 100’s of ingredients and contrary to belief, most of the chemicals used in products have not been specifically tested for safety and when they are tested, they are tested in isolation away from other chemicals. In reality we are exposed to a cocktail of different chemicals every single day.
The Environmental Working Group say this:
“An analysis of the chemical contents of products reveals that the innocuous-looking fragrance often contains chemicals linked to negative health effects. Phthalates, used to make fragrances last longer, are associated with damage to the male reproductive system, and artificial musks accumulate in our bodies and can be found in breast milk. Some artificial musks are even linked to cancer. And if you've got asthma, watch out-- fragrance formulas are considered to be among the top 5 known allergens, and can trigger asthma attacks. The same kinds of chemicals are often used for fragrances in cleaning products, scented candles, and air fresheners.”
When you add these chemicals into an environment like a bathroom, where hot water and steam are at play, the pores in your skin open up and make it much easier for your skin to absorb those chemicals. So do yourself a favour and ditch the artificial fragrances.
2 - Take your shoes off when you enter the house
Have a think about your typical day when you are out and about. Walking the pavement, walking across grass, using a public bathroom, maybe stopping off at the petrol station to fill up the car. Think about the streets you have walked down where they are covered in bird poo, dog poo, vomit, and spit (delightful right). Think about the chemicals, spilt petrol, pesticides, bacteria and dirt that you step on day in day out as you carry on with your busy lives.
Do we want to bring all of that into our home? Into our carpet, onto our floors and ultimately impacting our indoor air quality? Do you have carpets? Then this is even more important. Do you have toddlers or kids frequently playing on the floor? You might think it’s good for the immune system but most of the bacteria on our shoes originates from fecal matter and I’m pretty sure that’s to be avoided.
Apart from the health implications, you will get less dirt build up and there will be less cleaning to do! I know, I know, why didn’t I lead with that?
As an added bonus, shoes are restrictive, it’s good for us to let our feet spread out!
So kick those shoes off as you walk through the door!
3 - Drink More Water
I know, I sound like your Mum, but seriously you need to drink more water. When you think about all the processes in the body that rely on water, that our bodies are between 55-60% water, when you think about the impact dehydration has on your mood, ability to focus and concentrate. The truth is according to The Nutritional Therapy Association, most Americans are living in a state of chronic dehydration. While we are not in the US, I would betwe in New Zealand are not too different.
Did you know that being hydrated makes it easier to breathe? It supports our bodies detoxification processes, immune system, digestive system, and the way our cells communicate with each other. It lubricates our tissue and cushions our joints. It is vitally important to the function of your body.
Not only do we not drink enough water, we further dehydrate ourselves by drinking diuretic drinks like tea, coffee and alcohol.
So how much should you be drinking? Well, it really is different for everyone, are you an athlete, pregnant, lactating, living in high altitude? There are lots of things that impact your water needs but as a guide, for the average adult woman, you need to be aiming for 2.2 litres per day minimum! If you are drinking diuretic drinks then you need to add extra water to counteract those.
The second part to this is to sip your water, not chug it back. Sipping allows your body to absorb the water as opposed to just flushing through the body and you spending a lot of time on the toilet!
Don’t love the taste of water? Try adding some slices of lemon or maybe some cucumber and mint.
Water quality is key too but as water filters aren’t free, I will save that for a different blog post!
Make a start to increase your water intake, your body will thank you!
4 - Turn Your WIFI off at Night
Now, don’t panic, I’m not suggesting that we all wear foil hats and dig a bunker in our back garden to hide away in, but the simple fact is that more and more studies are showing the negative impact EMFs are having on our health.
The World Health Organisation has categorised Radiofrequency Radiation as a category 2b possible carcinogen (this is the same rating as cigarettes).
I’ve known for years that it would be a good idea to turn the WIFI off at night and put my phone on flight mode, but honestly I just couldn’t be bothered and I really didn’t think it was that important.
After undertaking some study on this subject through my diploma with the NTA, I decided it was worth a try.
Now sleep hasn’t been a big issue for me, I sleep well, I go to sleep relatively easily and most nights I stay asleep until I’m woken by a dog, child or alarm so I honestly didn’t think it was going to make any difference. That first night, where I diligently switched off the WIFI router, which by the way is in the back corner of my garage because that is the only place the company installing fibre was willing to put it, and I have to use a bamboo stick to reach the switch to turn it off, I couldn’t believe the difference it made. What I discovered was that there is sleep and then there is deep, sound, restorative sleep and I had been settling for the former for soooo long. What absolutely cemented it for me was the fact that a few night’s later, I didn’t sleep particularly well and when I asked if my husband’s cell phone had been on flight mode, he realised he had forgotten to do that.
So, I challenge you to try it for a few nights and see what difference it makes for you.
5 - Prioritise Sleep
You might think this is on a similar theme to #4 and it kind of is, committing to #4 can definitely improve your sleep. Sleep is a vital part of our bodies ability to detoxify, heal and process emotions. For part of the night our body focuses on physical recovery and the other part of the night is focused on psychological recovery and so it’s important that we give ourselves the time to go through enough sleep cycles to complete the process.
For anyone who has had kids, you understand the pain and torture of sleep deprivation. Your head feels like it’s full of cotton wool, you have less patience, you find your car keys in the fridge and you find yourself trying to put a load of washing into the oven (or was that just me?), it has such a serious impact on our wellbeing.
Modern life is not conducive to sleep either. Before electricity, we would wake in the morning at sunrise and head to bed soon after dark. We had strong natural rhythms to follow and it gave us the rest we needed. Now we have artificial light to keep going, TV’s to entertain us, devices to distract us and before we know it it’s midnight and we are sitting there glassy eyed as our T.V streaming service automatically starts yet another episode for us without us even noticing.
I am so guilty of letting my bedtime slip, particularly if the kids haven’t settled and are late to bed, I need a certain amount of down time, where I know the kid’s are safely tucked up and asleep so that I can unwind, the later they settle, the later I end up going to bed. As I approach 40, it takes me longer and longer to recover from my lack of sleep.
Is your bedroom a safe space to support restorative sleep? Leave the technology outside of the bedroom, have a regular bedtime, give yourself space to wind down and set yourself up for the sleep that you need.
While we are all individual and specific sleep requirements vary, a good aim is 8 hours per night. Now, if you have children who don’t sleep through the night, I hear you and I’ve been there. 8 hours is honestly laughable and if you don’t laugh you will cry (sleep deprivation tears) but I strongly believe that knowledge is power and so being aware of how little sleep you are getting, and how much your body truly relies on it, hopefully that knowledge will lead to more self compassion, more self care and more naps!
Sweet dreams everyone.
6 - Breathwork
None of this is rocket science is it? You might be thinking this last one is a bit odd, obviously if you are reading this then you are breathing, yes, but just like sleep, there is breathing and then there is deep, restorative, healing breathing.
When it was first suggested to me that maybe I could do some work on my breathing I was like, really! You’re telling me I can’t even breathe! What kind of human am I?
As it turns out, I’m pretty normal and as generations have passed, most of us have lost the ability to breathe properly. Mouth breathing, snoring, shallow and rapid breathing are now really common and it’s not doing us any favours.
Most of us spend the majority of our time chest breathing or shallow breathing. This puts our body into a sympathetic state (our fight or flight response) which in turn impacts our ability to digest, detoxify, regulate hormones, it has such a big impact on our health. Even the ability to oxygenate our cells!
Mouth breathing impacts the shape of our jaw and health of our teeth as well as bypassing one of the first layers of defense of our immune system where the hairs in our nose capture bacteria and debris and pollutants that shouldn’t be getting into the body.
If you have ever had any formal singing teaching, learnt to play a wind instrument or received swimming coaching, you will know how important it is to breathe correctly. James Nester, author of Breath says this:
“Modern research is showing us that making even slight adjustments to the way we inhale and exhale can jump-start athletic performance, rejuvenate internal organs, halt snoring, allergies, asthma and autoimmune disease, and even straighten scoliotic spines. None of this should be possible, and yet it is.”
Did you read that? Breathing can impact athletic ability, organ health, snoring, allergies, asthma and autoimmune disease - I don’t know about you but I think that’s crazy, it’s mind blowing.
So where do you start? Good question.
A good place to start is 5 minutes of box breathing when you wake up in the morning. When breathing in, you are breathing deeply into your belly, pushing your belly out and filling your torso, and when you exhale, you are fully emptying yourself of that air to get rid of all the unwanted elements that your lungs have filtered out.
Box breathing is where you inhale for 4 counts, hold for 4 counts, exhale for 4 counts, hold for 4 counts. Repeat that for 5 minutes, you can even do it while you are still lying in bed in the morning.
Once you’ve mastered that, add in 5 minutes before bed and then before meals. The more you practice, the more naturally it will come.
There is a lot here and so my challenge to you is to pick one of the above. Which one resonated with you most? Choose that one and run with it and let me know how you get on, I’d love to hear your stories.
References
https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/ask-ewg-what-fragrance
www.nta.com.au (Found in the Student Guide Hydration module).